Lovely evening....or "How to succeed at doing nothing without really trying"

Last night was the last night where I'll be 100% human-free at home for...who knows how long.

I gave myself permission to have fun.  Not fret over all the things inside that needed to be done, but to do a few things when I finally went indoors.

Raced home, thinking of stopping for dinner (I didn't, ultimately.  This is both the advantage and disadvantage of living so far out...there's really no fast food in our little town), but hit the driveway and bolted into the house.

Changed, let the dogs out, grabbed Strider's bit and headed out.

I love the way the gravel crunches under my feet.  Memories of childhood camping are in it.  It never fails to make me smile.

I grab Strider's halter and a long lead rope from the shed, toss them, my phone and a bottle of water onto the backseat and drive to the trailer to grab the long lunge line I have stashed in there.  My trailer is currently a wreck as I haven't yet cleaned it up after the rains kind of got into it.  I'd pulled everything out to let it sit in the sun and dry out, and then heaved it all back in when the weather threatened to rain on it all a week later.  What a disaster.  But, it's on the "To Do; No, I MEAN IT!!" list for this weekend.

So, manage to FINALLY find the long lunge line, grab the halter and go walk to get Strider.

And he ran away.  And this wasn't his playful "I'll run a few steps" run.  No, this was full fledged gallop hard and fast run.  Socks went whipping off with him while Dakini kind of looked at them both like "What's going on?"  Those two boys whirled and circled and ran and ran.  I couldn't get near them.

"Okay, so that's the game we're playing.  Fine."

I jumped on the ATV with my stick and string and gently went after them.  Pushed them to move if they slowed down.  Pushed again.  Finally they stopped, so I hopped off the ATV and Strider let me halter him.

I'm not COMPLETELY sure what happened.

I suspect the bot flies were a contributing factor.  But it took me almost getting plowed over 3 or 4 times by a snorty Paso to figure out what was going on.

I'm also pretty sure I jammed my big toe kicking him in the chest to get him out of my space as he almost ran me down a 3rd or 4th time.  I wasn't mad, but he wasn't listening to me, so I tried to communicate in a fashion he might hear.  News flash, sneakers, not necessarily a wise choice. 

I took him to our open and fairly flat area and we started to lunge.  He was on fire for a while.  How fast could we go.  I let the rope play out through my hand so I wasn't tipping his head.  Faster and faster, despite my wanting just a gait.  Okay, let's go for 45 seconds.  Rango comes running over to follow at his heels.  Pancho almost gets run over, but escapes in the nick of time. 

Round and round we go, music now a background noise as we work.  I'm focusing on him.  Watching his gait.  Is he off?  Is he stiff on the right?  No, he's fine.  His ear swivels toward me, head drops slightly.  I ask him to keep moving at a gait now as he's burned off all the frantic energy.  He asks to stop.  Just a few more moments buddy. 

We stop.  He stands there, facing me.  I finally invite him in to me.  He comes.  Those bot flies still bothering him, so I back him off again some.  Ask for some lateral movement to see if we can communicate.  We fumble some together before it clicks in for him and we understand each other and he moves over to the right.  Enthusiastic praise as I place a hand on his wet neck.

Back out on the line we do some more circles.  Shorter session before we stop again.  I attempt to get him to pivot around on the forehand.  I fail.  I get frustrated at myself so quickly switch over to the sidepass again.  Something I can communicate to him, that he understands what I'm saying.  Realize I need a lesson or two to remind me HOW to cue my amazingly smart horse HOW to pivot on the hind and fore.

We head over the barn, the flies still bothering him.  I hose him down.  He doesn't even waste time flinching anymore.  Not that he ever really has.  He's always seemed to like water.  But he doesn't even really dance around while I'm soaking him down.  I think perhaps because it drove the bugs off him.  I soak his neck and mane down. 

He stands still as I fit the bit to him.

Tolerant horse; I set it up wrong initially.  If horses glare, I'm pretty sure he did.  As soon as it was on, I knew it was all sorts of wrong.  A quick check on Google got me set straight and the bit corrected for him.

Honestly, he is so forgiving of my mistakes and errors.  How did I get so lucky?  He never holds a grudge.  Lucky for me, or I'd be in a world of trouble.

I pat him down and cut him loose.

Grab Pancho for a ride.  He's eager to go, having been running around for about 45 minutes by this point.  We head to the back of the property again.  I remind him to PLEASE not leap off the ATV tonight.  The sun is already fading on us, but I don't want to miss the ride.  Away we go, rattling over the ground as fast as I can go.  Something is driving me.  I don't know what, but we're flying.  I whip across the pasture and go through the second low lying area.  Watch a hawk launch itself off the large oak at the back.  Finally decide to go investigate.  I drive, carefully, to the oak tree.  It is large, branches hanging down for a marvelous shady area as I slowly circle the tree.  I can envision the horses beneath it better now.  I wish I knew how to start the tractor myself, for I might have brought it out to begin the cutting. 

But, I head back to the back of the property and, as I look behind me, to my shock and surprise, is Rango.  I don't believe he's ever been back here.  But he chases behind the ATV, ears flopping, a large grin on his face, his tongue hanging out.  I go slow so he can keep up, constantly encouraging him.  If I thought he wouldn't panic, I'd put him on the backseat too, but I don't dare.  He's large and skittish and currently seems quite happy to follow us. 

We come down back off the rocks and I take off a little faster, and he chases us.  Bouncing and leaping through the weeds.  I gun the ATV and he puts on a burst of speed to match.  We race through the pasture.

I laugh at him, perpetual energy he seems to have, and think, he's going to be REALLY tired tonight.  Good.

I do my daily check of the water trough.  Notice it's almost empty (and by "almost" I mean it's maybe 8" from the bottom of the trough), and decide to dump it, hose it out and set it back up. 

Finally do one last loop around the house with the dogs and head inside.  They're both exhausted and Rango throws himself into "his" chair, panting happily.  Pancho finally crawls up beside him.

Nothing I can do but laugh at them. 

And oddly, I felt more accomplished than I had from the night before.  And happier.  Certainly happier.